Biden laments inaction on Violence Against Women Act

Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday hailed the success of the Violence Against Women Act, saying domestic violence has dropped by 60 percent since it was signed into law 18 years ago.

But he also decried congressional gridlock that has left a strengthened reauthorization of the act in legislative limbo. Biden said in a statement issued on the law's anniversary that three women still die each day from domestic violence, one in five women have been raped and one in six have been stalked.

"While women and girls face these devastating realities every day, reauthorization of a strengthened VAWA languishes in Congress," he said. "VAWA is just as important today as it was when it first became law, and I urge Congress to keep the promise we made to our daughters and our granddaughters on that day—that we would work together to keep them safe."

The Senate passed a bill in April that would expand protections under the law to undocumented immigrants, same-sex partners and Native American women. The House then passed its own version without those protections. The two have yet to be reconciled.

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